Amazon.com: Chinaman's Chance (9780140075731): Ross Thomas: Books

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Customer Reviews

14 Reviews

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, great characters, great book!, April 12, 2001

By

David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Chinaman's Chance (Mass Market Paperback)

Lifelong pals since they hooked up in a San Francisco orphanage, Artie Woo and Quincy Durant are two of the best characters you'll come across in any thriller. Nobody plumbs the depths of corruption and works a great con like this dynamic duo of the Pacific Rim. Throw in the likes of grifter Otherguy Overby, CIA master Whittaker Lowell James, and a former folk trio named Ivory, Lace, and Silk, and you've got the makings for one helluva adventure.

"Chinaman's Chance" is a delight to read. The juicy, twisted tale of opportunists on the make was tailor-made for Ross Thomas' fast-paced, witty style. He had a remarkable ability of making cynical characters likable and complex plots believable. His novels are "page-turners," but they're also insightful and poignant sketches of the human condition. He was truly an uncommon talent.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as Robert B. Parker and John D. MacDonald, April 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chinaman's Chance (Mass Market Paperback)

If you like the combination of humor and action in the tradition of Leslie Charteris, Raymond Chandler, Robert B Parker, and John D. MacDonald, you will like Ross Thomas. Great character development. Good plot. Lots of great dialog.GET THESE BOOKS BACK IN PRINT!

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Thomas' jewels; if not his best book, February 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chinaman's Chance (Mass Market Paperback)

The wily Artie Wu and the often explosive Quincy Durant appear for the first time in this novel.

Throw in a missing actress, a luckless vietnam vet, a fixer connected into the highest circles in Washington, a couple of very bad guys and a fat, Tab-drinking italian killer with his two hoodlums.

Mix it with a couple million bucks under the ground in the ex American embassy in Saigon and a seedy place in Southern California that is so ripe that it has to be perceived as outright rotten.

Then let the master of the double and triple cross weave a plot that's thrilling, entertaining, unpredictable and sometimes outright shocking up to the very end.

Spice it up with some dialogues that are so dry that they can't be outmatched by a swig of Gin, straight from the bottle.

All those components make up one of Thomas' best reads ever.

I consider it to be a shame that so many of his books went out of print.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious
Wickedly funny and a great page turner. I've been reading a lot of crime fiction lately: Connelly, Rankin, Mankell, Francis, Child. All good in their own way. Read more

Published 21 months ago by Syracuse Violinist

3.0 out of 5 stars Great character development, but . . .
As usual, Ross Thomas does a great job in developing the characters early in the book, but then, as usual, gets tangled up in plots and subplots that take you way too far in... Read more

Published on December 22, 2008 by Mick

1.0 out of 5 stars foul language
I chose to stop reading the book due to the wide usage of foul language.

Published on September 24, 2007 by painter lady

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but Not the Masterpiece I expected
I've heard a lot about Ross Thomas, who is considered by many people to be one of the most underrated thriller novelists out there. Read more

Published on February 28, 2007 by Thriller Lover

5.0 out of 5 stars Laugh out loud funny
I really enjoy a well-written book that makes me laugh out loud, and this book is certinly that type. Read more

Published on February 20, 2007 by Frank J. Konopka

5.0 out of 5 stars The ultimate Los Angeles caper novel
This was the first of Thomas' Wu and Durant novels, and in my opinion, the best. Two things make this novel memorable. Read more

Published on January 26, 2006 by Canghuixu

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Of "Wu & Durant"....
Of the Ross Thomas books containing the Wu & Durant characters, this one is arguably the best. A great story with twists and turns that keep the pages turning with very... Read more

Published on May 9, 2003 by "The Woj"

5.0 out of 5 stars Chinaman's Chance
I happened upon Ross Thomas by chance and not design. As my local library had only Out on the Rim and The Fourth Durango on its shelves, I read them first. Read more

Published on September 10, 2002 by Enzo McEnzo

4.0 out of 5 stars Enter Artie Wu, Pretender to the throne of China.
A Congressman is killed, the apparent victim of a jealous wife who immediately commits suicide. The Congressman's girl friend is Silk Armitage, a famous singer. Read more

Published on December 7, 2000 by Peter Kenney

4.0 out of 5 stars Enter Artie Wu, Pretender to the throne of China.
A Congressman is killed, the apparent victim of a jealous wife who immediately commits suicide. The Congressman's girl friend is Silk Armitage, a famous singer. Read more

Published on December 6, 2000 by Peter Kenney

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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
The pretender to the Emperor's throne was a fat thirty-seven-year-old Chinaman called Artie Wu who always jogged along Malibu Beach right after dawn even in summer, when dawn came round as early as 4:42. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
dead pelican, suede chair

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Artie Wu, Betty Mae, Pelican Bay, Silk Armitage, Madame Szabo, Randall Piers, Icky Norris, Lace Armitage, Reginald Simms, Santa Monica, Solly Gesini, Otherguy Overby, San Francisco, Breadstone Avenue, Whittaker Lowell James, Los Angeles, Tony Egg, Chuck West, New York, Quincy Durant, Beverly Hills, Congressman Ranshaw, Run Run, Sneaky Pete, Vince Imperlino

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